Midnight Venom
by hazyPirate2001
Summary: 'I have many secrects, some you would risk your life over, some will make you cry, and some will drive into eternal madness - but in return I want one thing...' The Avengers thought that they had conquered all that was evil, they missed something that could bite. This story pushes freindship, hate and love to the limit and is a rollacoaster of a mystery!
1. The Rough Side of Town

Natasha wasn't scared. She knew this was the rough side of town, but, seriously, she knew no-one would dare go near her. She was almost invincible, untouchable – the avengers made her feel this way. Ever since that awful mug _Loki _had been defeated, she couldn't help but feel above the world.

It wasn't a greedy or juvenile feeling; just a proud one, one that made her feel safe_. Feel_, she thought,_ feel; do I feel anything more than safe_? Yes, she did.

Natasha felt loved and comforted by her friends, all of them (even Bruce!) and she had almost forgotten her horrible past, her gory, demented past. She would never have gotten over it if it wasn't for those guys; especially Clint. Clint was so nice, so talented, so unspeakably handso-

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, almost losing her balance. The enormous stack of 12 pizzas she was carrying almost went flying. She steadied herself, "Phew!" Black Widow carried on striding back to her home, walking slightly faster now. Something in the distance had distracted her, making her near-miss the floor. _Probably just some homeless guy…_

Natasha was about to round a familiar corner, the one that was attached to a desolate but short road to her house when she noticed that the lamppost was flickering on and off, on and off, continuously.

Curiosity brought her closer to the object and she saw that the metal had been broken into, and the wires had been ripped.

Sparks flew out everywhere and landed on the pavement, turning into ash. Black Widow rested her hand upon the torn body of the lamppost as if it were a wounded animal, her brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"That's odd-" she whispered, for she knew this was the rough side of town and did NOT want any attention drawn to herself "-who would attack a lamppost?" Natasha snorted. It was a bizarre thing to do, but there were a lot of bizarre people round here.

Just then she heard a stone hitting the ground close to her and a slight scampering of feet as it rolled towards her. There were some words carved into the floor; Natasha could only just make them out:

'_Midnight Venom'_

Curious, Natasha followed her instinct. She put down the pizzas and picked up the stone and peered around the corner…

WHAM! Immediately the stone fell from Black Widow's hand. She felt her skull crack and her back ached immensely. She impulsively struggled to free herself from the solid grip of her attacker. Kicking and screaming, a writhing Natasha was pinned by the throat to a brick wall, now splattered with a bit of fresh blood.

Eyes wide with terror Black Widow stared at the mad person whose forearm was strangling her.

The attacker had long matted and unkempt mousy-brown hair that had no parting what-so-ever and flopped over parts of her face; her skin was pale, like the moon, and her veins were pulsing and circulating some silver substance. Her teeth were covered in plaque and needed a good wash, and she smelt of fresh butcher's meat, sweat and blood. But the features that horrified Natasha, the feature that made her heart freeze were her eyes.

They were a bright pale purple, not pretty like they could, but harsh and mad, they gave her demina of a physcopath. They pierced Black widow's soul, they terrified her.

The 30 year-old spoke with a whispery, urgent and violent voice, with a tone of hysteria; adding overall to her mad appearance.

"Am I correct in think that you are Black Widow?" the attacker had her face close to Natasha's, so she could feel her breath.

"I won't I tell you!" Natasha struggled to speak, she needed to breathe, although there was not a lot of pressure on her windpipe the madwoman's force was detectable. She was pulling with both her hands at the creep's arm but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh, but I think you'll find-" the attacker's voice became more fearsome and stronger, "-that I am VERY persuasive!" on her emphasis the madwoman slowly pressed her arm into Natasha's throat, making it almost impossible for Natasha to breathe.

She was clinging on, desperately gasping for air. Black widow gave up on kicking and tugging, instead her legs rested limply on the ground and her hands were tucked into the attacker's forearm. She felt a tear dribble down her cheek.

"Yes-y-yes I am!" she choked out, "what do you want?"

The madwoman edged her face closer to Natasha's. Only now she could see an ugly and what looked like a partly-healed scar. It started from her chin and went diagonally down to her collar bone, that was all Natasha could see as her eyes has gone all watery and it was a strain too see so far down.

"I want you to give a note to your pesky friend Thor"

"I'll never betray my friends, Never" Black Widow squealed, she knew that the avengers would never forgive, frankly she wouldn't forgive herself.

"Don't make me KILL you!" the attacker raged. Natasha felt her feet lift off the floor, the madwoman's strength was incredible and unimaginable. There was a scraping sound and Black Widow realised there was a dagger in her attacker's hand. Natasha felt as if her eyes were going to explode, her lungs were gonna burst, her final day was coming….

Un-consciously, her arms released their grip on the madwoman's arm. They hung by her sides.

She could barely feel anything, not the wind, not her broken bones, nothing. Except pain.

She could barely think anything, not about the pizzas, not about the news, nothing. Except fear.

She felt a soft and delicate cloth being pressed and closed into her ghastly-white hand and a spine-tingling icy whisper:

"Give this to Thor, don't open it, don't read it, or your blood will be spilled in the most agonising way possible," and the attacker fled.

Natasha dramatically fell and crumpled hopelessly on the floor, wheezing and spluttering, coughing and crying. She was haunted by the glow of her attacker's misty violet eyes. Her bruising was almost black and highly noticeable. If anyone saw it they would immediately know that she had just been strangled to the brink of death.

She did up her collar but couldn't stop the tears. She held a parchment note in her hands and couldn't understand how it got there, but figured it was probably stuffed in there when she was half in limbo.

Trembling, Natasha knew she was going to be hunted down until she delivered the note, but wouldn't bring herself to betray her friends. Who made her feel safe. Who made her feel loved. Who made her feel happy.

But deep down, Natasha knew that she was traumatized when she screamed as she rested her eyes on the pavement carvings and read once more the petrifying words:

'_Midnight Venom'_


	2. Fatal Consequences

Natasha didn't stop running once. Her bones broken and breathless but fear kept her going. she didn't care about the pizzas, she didn't care about the excruciating pains in her neck, she just kept running. Running until her heart would stop.

Her hand was sweating so badly the note almost slipped out of her hand, but she gripped on it for her life, like the only thing to cure her was slipping away. She had no idea what the note said, whether it would put her friends in danger, or make them hate her for her lack of defence - but her mind was seared with flashing images. Images of eyes. Purple eyes.

Finally it was in sight - her house. A house she shared with the avengers. A house full of people that she cared about. Eventually Natasha slowed to a halt outside the front door. People she _cared _about.

Suddenly the effect of what she'd done hit her. _I can't hurt them, they are my friends. _She thought. Black Widow knew that the parchment note enclosed in her sweaty, bloodstained right hand was not a bribe for sweets. It was something bad. Something painful. Something unthinkable.

Just then, the physical pain of her injuries started to impact on her. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the concrete, her legs unable to support her lifeless body. To her it felt as if her head had been struck from her shoulders, and it was only clinging on by the fear of death. her neck and higher back was in the most pain a human could endure, they had been crushed to a pulp.

Natasha plucked up the courage to open the door, but immediately it came crumbling down lower than it was.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!" She screamed in frustration and agony. "why can't I DO THIS?" on the verge of tears, Black Widow heard quick footsteps down a staircase.

Hastily, Natasha checked the heavy deep blue bruising around her neck, and made sure that it was covered up by her collar. she did the best she could to straighten up her back, but didn't do so well.

Instead, to mask her broken bones she decided to lean on the brick wall sexily to make it look like she didn't need to support her self.

Minutes later, the door swung open and there stood a rather dashing Steve. The moonlight shining on his blonde hair made him look almost god-like. Natasha managed a wide smile and tried to look not-traumatised.

It sort of worked.

"Natasha, are you um alright?" asked Steve, slowly as if he was talking to a mad person.

Desperate to plaster her real reply of 'no' she tried to act flirty, even though she never was normally.

"Yes, why wouldn't i be?" she said smiling, showing bright white teeth.

"Where are the pizzas?" Steve asked, unsure and accepting the fake excuse that Natasha just gave him. He looked confused and his voice was quick, not mean, but quick.

"Um oh - I er..." Black Widow hadn't thought of that. She went out in the first place to _get _ pizzas. And now what did she have? A horror-stained note from a madwoman that almost killed her. She screamed at the very thought of those eerie purple eyes, but covered it up with a jaunty laugh. "Ha, ha , ha, I traded the pizzas..."

"All of them?" exclaimed Steve, bewildered that 12 pizzas were worth something so tiny he couldn't see Natasha holding it.

"Er - yeah,"

"What for?"

"Um... This!" She held up the note, choking on her words because she could barely breathe. She knew that she wouldn't last much longer if she didn't treat herself, and standing outside in the cold air jabbering with Steve wasn't helping.

Trying to look normal, she stumbled into the lounge where the Avengers were. immediately her eyes fell onto Clint, who was looking as handsome as ever... _I can't do this. _

"Natasha can I have the note now?" said Steve, taking a swipe at it.

"No, um I'll give it to you in the morning - see ya"

Once in her room Natasha started to splutter and cough up. She couldn't leave her room. Her eyes popping it was only now that she realised that her knees were bleeding, she probably fell over a few times while running to the house. Clawing at her own throat, she was desperate to live. Flashing images of purple eyes were slashed across her vision as if a knife were stabbing her brain.

Failing around, Black Widows arms and legs started to quiver uncontrollably, and she suddenly realised that she felt freezing. Her body was taking blood from her fingers and arms and draining it into her more vital areas.

She wanted to scream 'help' but her windpipe was foaming.

There was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Clint smiling, but his smile suddenly faded when he saw Natasha. She stopped failing but she was on her knees and crying.

Clint dived for her like she was the most important thing in the world. Gently he took a strand of Black Widow's flaming red hair and brushed it behind her ear; a look of concern on his face.

"What happened?" he softly demanded. He stroked the back of Natasha's head like she was a cat. She knew that she was always holding Clint back, repelling him, blocking him out like a river being blocked by a dam. Only now she felt like letting it go, making it give way...

"JESUS CHRIST!" she shouted. Clint had accidentally stroked her bruising. There was a silence that leaked through the corridor and the chat about 'no pizzas' died away.

Piecing the jigsaw together, Clint pulled away Natasha's collar and saw the horrific trauma marks left on her.

"What happened" he ordered.

Natasha shook her head and whimpered, the note was clenched in her hand still, but her grip tightened as Hawkeye spotted it. Quicker than lightning he grabbed her wrist and twisted it round so the note flopped out of Black Widow's hand. He swiped it up and held it in front of her face.

"What's this?" he spitted, disgusted.

Natasha stood up and backed out of her room, stumbling as her ankles had swelled up.

"Now you-you have t-to understand" she stammered, scared.

Hawkeye's menacing face made her run down the corridor, she feared that he would find out that he had betrayed her.

Clint started to sprint after her, not wanting to hurt her in any way possible.

Un-aware of where she was going, Natasha accidently tripped into the lounge and hit her head on a glass table.

She passed out knowing that her doom would soon arrive...


End file.
